My fear of blogging: explained and… overcome?

“Done is better than perfect. As I like to say, you need to know when good enough is good enough.”
http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/14241.aspx
I have a lot to say. I just want to write, but perfectionism and fear of others’ perceptions hold me back.

It’s been years since I first thought of starting a blog.* I remember the flight back home after NSPRA 2009 in San Francisco, scribbling onto a small notepad all the school PR-related topics I would write about. That was four years ago. So, why the delay?

Sure, having a blog could be fun, and good writing practice. But it’s also public, and a famous quote comes to mind:

“It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to talk and remove all doubt.”

Here are some of my fears:

Giving potential employers too much information about me

You’ll see a few of these fears have a common theme: getting a job. The job hunt is brutal. And that’s without giving your potential employers further reasons not to hire you. In a blog I may reveal myself as too much of one type of person: not enough of a designer, too much designer, not enough marketing/writing/coding, too much of a generalist, too much of a specialist…

I’m not a journalist. I don’t like going out and interviewing people, taking notes, then writing an article about it. I’m not good at it. Nor do I like schmoozing at events. I’m an introvert, and I’m not good at that, either. But… if necessary for a job at a school district, I’ll do them both. Unless, of course, you read this and don’t offer me a job that might require those tasks. (Maybe that’s a blessing in disguise.)

My point is that a public blog can be revealing. When in the hunt for a job, that’s a potentially dangerous thing.

I have more questions than I have answers

The majority of blogs I read provide answers and wisdom on the subjects of their expertise, but rarely, if ever, do they question themselves, sound unsure, or reveal that they don’t know how to do something.

I consider myself a professional in the marketing/school PR field. I read about and experiment with social media almost on a daily basis. I’ve had colleagues ask for my advice as a so-called “rock star” on the subject. But I’m not an expert, a guru, or a “rock star.” There are many, many questions I have asked myself over the last 7 years about the role of marketing, PR, and social media in public school districts. I have the desire to ask those questions publicly. But will that just hurt my reputation in the eyes of colleagues and potential employers?

If I have to write for an audience rather than for myself, it may not be fun anymore

Should my blog have a specific audience and objective? If I write for school PR pros, will they turn away if I add the occasional uber-geek post discussing html code? I have a lot of interests, and I want to have somewhere to write about them beyond 140 characters at a time. But for some posts (like tips and tools), I really do want to have an audience. How much do I balance my own interests with those of my readers?

Does what I have to say really matter for school PR pros?

I’m a detail-oriented, OCD perfectionist. This blog post might not show it, but I’m a harsh editor when it comes to anything digital. I hate seeing when “best practices” aren’t followed: email newsletters sent in the form of a PDF or giant JPEG rather than html, tweets with too many characters, emails sent from a no-reply email address, writing “click here” for a link instead of descriptive text… The list goes on.

But I often wonder, are these all details that really matter for a school district in the big picture? Does a school district have the time